What's Happening

More college students seeking counseling and psychiatric treatment.

October 18, 2014|Child & Adolescent

Psychologists and behavioral health providers at colleges and universities are seeing increasing demand for psychological counseling and psychiatric treatment services for students. However, while the number of students seeking mental health treatment has been increasing, many universities have been reducing funding and staffing at student counseling and health centers.

Every year, CPA works with hundreds of college students who seek services ranging from learning disability evaluations to counseling and psychopharmacological treatment.

An interesting new report published via the American Psychological Association examines recent trends in mental health and treatment among college students. Below is an excerpt and the link the full story.

Excerpt:

About one-third of U.S. college students had difficulty functioning in the last 12 months due to depression, and almost half said they felt overwhelming anxiety in the last year, according to the 2013 National College Health Assessment, which examined data from 125,000 students from more than 150 colleges and universities.

Other statistics are even more alarming: More than 30 percent of students who seek services for mental health issues report that they have seriously considered attempting suicide at some point in their lives, up from about 24 percent in 2010, says Pennsylvania State University psychologist Ben Locke, PhD, who directs the Center for Collegiate Mental Health CCMH, an organization that gathers college mental health data from more than 263 college and university counseling or mental health centers.

“Those who have worked in counseling centers for the last decade have been consistently ringing a bell saying something is wrong, things are getting worse with regard to college student mental health,” Locke says. “With this years report, were now able to say, ‘Yes, youre right. These are really clear and concerning trends.”

Psychologists are stepping in to help address these trends in several ways. Researchers are examining the effect of mental health on how prepared students are for learning and exploring innovative ways to expand services and work with faculty to embed mental wellness messages in the classroom, says Louise Douce, PhD, special assistant to the vice president of student life at Ohio State University.